I was speaking to a friend the other day, who was once married to a Muslim and has close ties to the worldwide Muslim community. We both agree that the Muslims we personally know are kind, decent people and not at all associated with the daily jihad violence seen around the world. They abhor the crazies amongst them.

The world’s 1.2 billion Catholics have one spokesman who can support or condemn policy and speak out for them. They have a pope, and his message is mostly of kindness and compassion for each other.

But Muslims have no main leader to speak for them; and as a result, the ones among them who preach a brand of hatred and violence seem to grab the attention of the media.

In the latest round of senseless violence:

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The storming of a “western” shopping center in Nairobi, Kenya by Muslim extremists resulted in the slaughter of every non-Muslim they could put their gun sights on….72 dead so far. Alarmingly, it seems that among the Muslim terrorists who attacked the mall were American Muslims recruited from Minnesota and Maine. Minnesota is known to have a large Muslim Somali community, and they are reportedly recruited to take part in terrorist activity.

While the Kenya attack was occurring, in another part of the world, a pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a 130-year-old Anglican church in Pakistan. The bombings were timed for Sunday Mass, killing at least 78 people in the deadliest attack on Christians in the predominantly Muslim country.

Ongoing attacks on Christians by Muslim Brotherhood adherents have resulted in churches getting torched and countless Christians murdered in Egypt. (See: There Is a Bulls eye on the Back of Every Christian Living in Egypt.)

In the Syrian civil war, Muslim “rebels” have systematically targeted Christian towns, destroying them and killing the inhabitants.

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Violent oppression of Christians has become the norm in Muslim-majority nations, especially in Africa and the Middle East. In some countries, it is government-sanctioned violence that burns down churches and imprisons parishioners.

In others countries, groups and vigilantes take matters into their own hands by murdering Christians and driving them out of regions they have called home for centuries. (Read more: Heads roll as the religion of “turn the other cheek,” meets the religion of “peace.”)

According to the latest State Department report on worldwide terrorism, there were 6,771 terrorist attacks in 2012, fueled by an upsurge in state-sponsored terrorism by Iran. (See: What 2012 Terrorism Statistics Reveal.)

America is still jittery after getting another wake-up call when Boston was bombed by Jihadists during the historic Boston Marathon.

Many people are starting to question why peaceful Muslims tolerate this violence being waged on Muslims and non-Muslims in the name of their religion. There is no other religion in the world that is surrounded by such violence under its banner.

America is the most religiously tolerant country in the world and accepts all sorts of different beliefs…..as long as they are not violent towards us. We know that all Muslims are not terrorists, but it seems that most of today’s terrorists are Muslims.

America’s and the world’s tolerance is being stretched thin by one atrocity after another being waged under the banner of a religion. Even though the percentage of the extremists among Muslims is small, it is painting the whole religion with a violent paintbrush.

It is time for leaders among the Muslim faithful to step forward and condemn the violence. It would be totally appropriate and appreciated by the world to see a massive show of condemnation of this violence. A symbolic way to show it would be a million Muslim march on Washington DC… Americans of every stripe would gladly join in a show of solidarity.

This commentary originally appeared at IrishCentral.com and is reprinted here with permission.

Photo credit: terrellaftermath

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